Blog post published: "Let’s not overlook classic authoritarians! Understanding Thailand's political regime" by Thareerat Laohabut
16.01.2023
Over the past few years, the concept of democratic backsliding has dominated the academic discourse, centring on democratically elected leaders who incrementally undermine democratic institutions to consolidate their power. This focus on democratically elected authoritarians and gradual regime transformation, however, clouds our understanding of 'classic' authoritarians. In her blogpost "Let’s not overlook classic authoritarians! Understanding Thailand's political regime" published at The Loop, Thareerat Laohabut makes the case that the way we currently classify autocratic regimes fails to accurately grasp dynamics in regimes such as Thailand. Contrasting the focus on leaders in classic authoritarianism research with the emphasis on regime transformation in scholarship on democratic backsliding, Thareerat argues that "the evolution of Thailand’s political regime cannot be understood by focusing on either the leaders’ roles or the stage of the regime transitions alone: we need both perspectives for a complete picture."
You can read Thareerat’s complete analysis at The Loop, ECPR’s Political Science Blog, by following this link: “Let’s not overlook classic authoritarians! Understanding Thailand's political regime”.
